Serena Williams has a new doubles partner. The 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion is working with Ro, speaking out about how she used the direct-to-patient telehealth company to access GLP-1s for weight loss after having kids.
Williams, whose husband is a Ro investor and board member, gave birth to her second daughter in 2023. The former tennis star said in a statement that she “trained at the highest level, ate a clean diet, pushed myself,” but after having kids, her “body just wouldn’t respond.” Williams concluded that her situation “wasn’t about willpower; it was biological” and that her “body needed the GLP-1 and clinical support.”
Ro is using Williams’ status as an elite athlete to push the message that weight loss can be about more than just trying harder. According to Ro, “there are few, if any, people in the world with more willpower” than the athlete, but Williams “chose to pair her hard work with science to reach her health goals.”
The telehealth company is pushing the message in a national marketing campaign that will span digital, broadcast and out-of-home. The campaign includes a 30-second ad in which Williams hits on the point about weight loss being about more than willpower.
In the ad, Williams says some people see GLP-1s for weight loss as a shortcut, but she disagrees, stating, “It’s science.” Williams adds that GLP-1s helped her lose 31 pounds, which a graphic in the ad suggests she shed over eight months. Participants in a phase 3 trial of Eli Lilly’s Zepbound lost 52 pounds on the 15-mg dose but were on the drug for about 16 months.
Ro has also published a longer, direct-to-camera video with Williams on its website and social channels. In the video, Williams shares more details about her unsuccessful efforts to lose weight through diet and exercise, and what changed when she started taking a GLP-1. The video ends with Williams promising that she will tell more of her story in the future, “because there’s no shame in this.”
Williams joins NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley on Ro’s roster of celebrity ambassadors. Barkley starred in an ad for Ro in April, setting out his ambition to lose 65 pounds. The star said in a podcast interview last year that he lost more than 50 pounds on a GLP-1, but went on to regain most of the weight after stopping treatment. Barkley restarted treatment with Ro to hit his weight loss goal.
Ro began by providing compounded versions of GLP-1 drugs, then struck deals with Lilly and Novo Nordisk to secure access to Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound. While Novo ended a deal with another telehealth company, Hims & Hers, over compounding, the Danish drugmaker has kept its partnership with Ro.